March 5, 2011

Jon Stewart brilliant yet again

Very well done. Connects some things I had not. The fact that conservatives defended people making over 250 K a year as not rich, and possibly even poor, but now accusing teachers making 50K of being lazy and greedy. Second, that when we attacked bonus money, conservatives claimed that contracts were contracts, and those bonuses had been promised for some time. Not, of course, like the benefits that the state of Wisconsin promised to their teachers and public workers. Those just came out of the blue.

And amazingly, that conservatives on Fox and other places, were appalled that some government entity might question the amount a CEO could make, but have no problem with Scott Walker deciding that teachers make too much.

But the final disconnect was the idea that we could not punish CEOs and demand they make less, because we needed to attract the best, and that was how you got the best. Teachers? Nope. They are already lazy--they get the summers off.

10 comments:

Some days, I just want to throw up my hands and say "screw it." I mean "these poor people, paying mortgages and loans, $250,000 a year when you're sending two kids to college is darn near the poverty level."

Seriously. I mean, that is so callous, so out of touch, so mind-bogglingly misinformed and so massively offensive that I am at a loss for words.

Class Warfare NOW, Streak. Class Warfare. Got some 4x4x12s, some rope, a sharp piece of steel and a basket.

For a minute there, I was confused as to what I am supposed to build. And now that I know, I have to warn you that my home-built stuff may not be up to snuff. Can't we just mail order this off the web?

While I understand the desire to pursue class warfare, I believe there are a couple of other ways that might produce better fruit...

1. The Sacred Scriptures tell us that "my people perish for lack of knowledge". As far as I can tell, Jon Steward is the only journalist (court jester) around that has the integrity to point out the hypocrisy of Fox News. We need more of this, we need to see how both Democrats and Republicans sell the poor and middle classes down the river for money from the rich.

2. The Church desperately needs to wake up. I constantly hear people preaching and speaking against various abominations, generally sexual in nature. What I don't see is the majority of the Bible preached, that majority that calls (using the VERY SAME HEBREW WORD) collecting interest an abomination, that preaches against withholding wages from those who need them to live, from selling on the Sabbath (Wal Mart anyone?) from calling out GOVERNMENTS as well as individuals and societies to care for the poor, the least the last , the lost! In my mind much of our society is condemned by our behavior no matter who we sleep with.

Jesus and His holy Apostles lived and worked among the poorest of society. He sought out the lost lamb, not the fat fluffy ones, with whitened wool watching FOX.

God has been telling humanity this same message for thousands of years, and sometimes we get it, mostly we don't Not long a go, a piece of pottery was discovered with the oldest known Hebrew inscription on it. It has been translated as this:

1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]3' [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]4' the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.5' Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

Provided by University of Haifa

This is not a part of our known body of Scriptures but it is very similar to portions such as Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, Exodus 23:3, etc.

God clearly calls Kings (Governments) and people to care for the least among us, our CHURCHES need to preach this ancient truth.

I get the frustration; I have family members who are agitating for policies that will make it harder for my parents to survive in retirement. I'm just not a huge fan of French Revolution or Second Amendment solutions. It's too Tea Party for me.

I prefer Niebuhr's approach in Moral Man, Immoral Society, where he points out that all change is violent to some degree (poor rural British cotton-growers starved during Gandhi's boycotts), but only "nonviolent" (meaning indirectly violent) change is sustainable.

I'm just not a huge fan of French Revolution or Second Amendment solutions

Nor do I actually have plans to shoot people or construct guillotines and have beheading parties. Relax. Just venting.

Since it seems that some sensitivities were violated, I'll point out that Wisconsin is a great example of class warfare that will work out, I think, for the working man. It is indirectly "violent" that teachers aren't in the classroom as they are protesting, but sustainable in that maybe the rich elitists in the capitol trying to make sure their rich buddies keep the tax cuts they gave them (at the expense to promises made to the working class) will lose this one.

What have I been stockpiling all this ammo for? I am married to a teacher, so I will be the first to admit they are paid well. I also think there is a little bit of a difference between public and private employees. I don't have a problem with their salaries being up for discussion as taxpayers are paying them.

That being said, I don't understand why teachers should somehow be paid less. I would prefer that, given their duties, they should be well compensated. Considering the level of training that is needed, I hardly think they are overpaid.

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